Excerpt
Health and wellness are my passions, but
athletes are my inspiration! One of my other passions
in life is my position as Human Resources Director at a
market-making firm by the name of Wolverine Trading,
LLC, in downtown Chicago. It’s a wonderful thing to
be surrounded each day by such youth and vitality. I
realized early on in my career that I had beTer listen
to young people because I could definitely learn from
them. They have a full day of very challenging work
and still find time to stay connected to their health by
working out, watching what they eat and participating
in competitive sports.
Katie Gallagher, Equity Trader for Wolverine
Trading, shared a story with me about one of the traders
in her pit at the Chicago Board Options Exchange who
had overcome the daily health hazards of trading by
engaging in a daily ritual of juicing. Carrot juice with
apples was his drink of choice and he joked about
his health being extra-ordinary but his hands turning
orange. I can now confirm that he made up the “orange
hands” part of that story. For those of you who have
never visited the trading floors—the space is very
limited and the number of people is easily in the
thousands. Traders are very dedicated people and they
show up to trade—rain or shine, sick or tired—even
sick and tired. It is not unusual for colds and flu to
be going around the trading floor all year long. This
trader was onto something and I wanted to find out
more about it.
I was intrigued by this new health phenomenon
and chose to do some research on this whole “juicing”
thing. I started out slow, but from that point on, my
whole life changed. As the weeks went by I could physically
feel the impact the daily juicing was having on
my life and I felt alive. It made sense that I was feeling
such aliveness because the juice produced “enzymes” that emained alive for consumption—unlike store
bought products that kill of these healthy enzymes in
order to preserve shelf life. I was drinking life right
into my body and it was responding. A few short months
later, Wolverine Trading purchased a high-powered
commercial juicer for the employees and it has really
made a diference. Some mornings we cannot keep up
with all the juice requests!
My family became very curious. They began making
inquiries into this mysterious lifestyle that I had become
obsessed with. Our family soon invested in a highpowered
juicer, which has since earned a permanent
place on the kitchen counter. I began geTing up earlier
than usual to prepare the juice for everyone. I would
deliver it right up to their rooms so that, with such
great room service, there was no way they could refuse.
My family implies that I actually “forced” the juice on
them but that is not the way that I remember it at all.
My husband, Steve, and I soon began taking turns
making the juice in the morning for all of us. It took as
long to make as an average breakfast, but it was worth
the time and energy once we began to experience the
health benefits. Our children reported more energy
and alertness in class ater they began drinking the juice
in the morning instead of eating a heavy breakfast. I no
longer worried or felt guilty about not making a big,
hot breakfast for them. As long as they were drinking
the juices in the morning they were geTing everything
they needed. The benefits of the new breakfast routine
were also confirmed by the fact that no one in the house
was geTing colds or flus anymore.
The juicing routine caught on quickly in our
house especially during the summer months when
dehydration was at its peak. My son, also named Steven,
has played sports practically his whole life and was
surprised by his body’s response to the juicing. He
sustained his strength and energy during practices for
the hockey and football teams of Mount Carmel High School in Chicago. He witnessed several fellow athletes
collapsing during the strenuous practices due to dehydration
and fatigue. I became more and more concerned
with the health of my son and other young athletes who
engage in strenuous and competitive sports. It is with
this thought in mind that I was driven to find an answer
to keeping our athletes on the ice, on the field or on
the court!
We were surprised at how quickly our children
adjusted to the morning juicing ritual and they began
requesting “Carrots and Apples” only please! Our
college-age daughter, Christin, realized that carrot
juice was a quick cure for hangovers. Also, the allergies
and stufy noses that once plagued our home seemed
to disappear as juicing became our weekday breakfast
instead of eggs, toast and sausage. It fit in nicely with
our busy schedule of being on the run and never having
enough time to prepare a healthy meal. Most of the
time, our children would take their juice with them in
a “to-go” cup.
Our family still enjoys the many traditional meals
that taste superb but lack proper nutritional value. The
juicing lifestyle ofsets some of the damage that we do
to our bodies by consuming processed and fast foods.
Juicing keeps sickness at bay and energizes our bodies
on a daily basis.
I hope you enjoy this book. Believe me—it will
make a diference in the lives of you and your children.
